Bear Tooth Theatrepub Celebrates 10 Years In April

Published: April 9, 2010

The Bear Tooth Theatrepub is ramping up for a tenth anniversary celebration this month. The theatre officially opened on April 14, 2000 with the screening of the cult-classic “Strange Brew.” What has become a Spenard destination has since gained a reputation for its wide array of movie offerings, concerts, events and restaurant facilities.

The owners’ original intent for the former Denali Theatre was to create a theatre along the lines of theatre pubs that they had attended while living in Portland, Oregon. Owning a brewery and an established pizza restaurant in Anchorage, the expansion into the theatrepub business seemed like a no-brainer.

Their vision expanded over the years, after initially opening with the 400 seat theatre and 65(?)_ seat café in April 2000, they opened the Bear Tooth Grill in 2001. First Tap parties that were established at the Moose’s Tooth Pub were moved to the Spenard location so that they could bring in larger bands and have more room for Anchorage music and party lovers to enjoy the show.

While the Bear Tooth concentrates on a wide-variety of movie programming which numbers about 250 films a year, concerts are also regularly booked into the theatre with such national names as The Indigo Girls and Michael Franti and Spearhead to local talent showcases like Sweating Honey, The Whipsaws and The Photonz. For the past several years the Bear Tooth has provided a free big screen showing of the SuperBowl as well.

Many local non-profit groups partner with the Bear Tooth to promote their social service agencies to the community and the owners often pick some of their favorite charities to hold fundraisers at the Bear Tooth.

This year’s 10th anniversary celebration will center around the Portugal. The Man concert on April 22, with the Bear Tooth Theatrepub Café and Bear Tooth Grill having anniversary food specials and anniversary cup cakes served with a candle in celebration of the event.

The Moose’s Tooth Brewery has brewed a special beer for the occasion, Bear Tooth X, an ale with 10 percent alcohol and served in a 10 ounce glass.

Another cause for celebration in this milestone year will be significant customer service improvements in the theatre. Starting in June crews will start installing brand new seating throughout the theatre; these seats were specially designed for customer comfort as well as accommodating easier removal for concert events. The Bear Tooth will move technologically forward as well by installing a new state of the art digital projection system this fall allowing the Bear Tooth the ability to show the latest 3-D films and a screen presentation that will rival any other theatre in Anchorage. The sound system will also be upgraded to full Dolby Digital 5.1 sound.

Other improvements scheduled to take place near the end of the year are more reserved seating and online ticket purchases for reserved seats.